Google Preps Mac OS X Lion-Compliant Chrome

Google on Wednesday announced an update to the Dev Channel version of its Chrome Web browser that squarely addresses Apple’s new Mac OS X Lion operating system features.

The early test version adds support for Lion’s two-finger gesture support, which lets users scroll back and forth through their browsing history, Google said in a blog post. Previous versions of Chrome use three-finger swiping for this.

Another minor fix lets the Chrome window animate in on Lion, an OS trademark. More still will allow Chrome to work properly with multiple Profiles.

The Dev Channel release of Chrome, which precedes a final release by at least 18 weeks, carries the version number 14.0.835.0. The stable release of Chrome is currently at version 12. This test version 14 also adds some updates on all platforms, including an update of its JavaScript engine, V8, to version 3.4.13.0. But the Dev release still lacks Chrome basics such as PDF viewing.

Apple released Lion last week to great acclaim along with new MacBook Air models, but already the operating system has revealed some security issues and incompatibilities—normal growing pains for such a major upgrade. This Chrome update itself, while commendable, will come long time after the OS release.